Exposure Limits for Nanoparticles: Report of an International Workshop on Nano Reference Values

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PIETER VAN BROEKHUIZEN1,*, WIM VAN VEELEN2, WILLEM-HENK STREEKSTRA3, PAUL SCHULTE4 and LUCAS REIJNDERS5

1 IVAM UvA BV Plantage Muidergracht 14 1018TV Amsterdam, Netherlands;

2 FNV Amsterdam, Netherlands;

3 VNO/NCW The Hague, Netherlands;

4 NIOSH Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA;

5 University of Amsterdam, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics Amsterdam, Netherlands ? *Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +31-20-525-6324; e-mail: pvbroekhuizen{at}ivam.uva.nl Received March 30, 2012. Accepted April 16, 2012. This article summarizes the outcome of the discussions at the international workshop on nano reference values (NRVs), which was organized by the Dutch trade unions and employers’ organizations and hosted by the Social Economic Council in The Hague in September 2011. It reflects the discussions of 80 international participants representing small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), large companies, trade unions, governmental authorities, research institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from many European countries, USA, India, and Brazil. Issues that were discussed concerned the usefulness and acceptability of precaution-based NRVs as a substitute for health-based occupational exposure limits (OELs) and derived no-effect levels (DNELs) for manufactured nanoparticles (NPs). Topics concerned the metrics for measuring NPs, the combined exposure to manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs) and process-generated NPs, the use of the precautionary principle, the lack of information about the presence of nanomaterials, and the appropriateness of soft regulation for exposure control. The workshop concluded that the NRV, as an 8-h time-weighted average, is a comprehensible and useful instrument for risk management of professional use of MNMs with a dispersible character. The question remains whether NRVs, as advised for risk management by the Dutch employers’ organization and trade unions, should be under soft regulation or that a more binding regulation is preferable.

Keywords: © The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene SocietyThis ArticleAnn Occup Hyg (2012) 56 (5): 515-524. doi: 10.1093/annhyg/mes043 Current Issue
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Posted in: exposure, International, Limits, Nanoparticles, Reference, Report, Values, Workshop